22nd-century Technology Levels

[mactavish]

Clearly - of the species seen on-screen on Enterprise - the Vulcans possess the most advanced technology (save perhaps the Vissians and [obviously] the Borg), but where do the other major species/civilizations fall?

Let's assign an arbitrary Technology Level to Vulcan, say 10.0.

If this is the case, what about Earth? Andoria? Tellar? Qo'nos? Romulus?

What about those minor races, like the Xyrillians? The Vissians? The Suliban?

mactavish out.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Andorian starships were stated to be more powerful than their Tellarite equivalents (Babel One). However, Tellarites have been seen much farther than Andorians seem to have traveled (Klingon space, Verex III), so they might have better warp drives, or have been in space longer—Tellarites have been warp-capable since at least the 20th century (Carbon Creek). Klingons have also taken Tellarite technology (Bounty), so whatever the Tellarites have, the Klingons might be able to get. The Tellarite cruiser model was also used for Arkonian and Xindi ships, so either the ships or simply the design (and the technology to make it work) may have been stolen or sold to them. Romulans probably have all sorts of military hardware that the other cultures don't seem to have, which might have been relayed to the Vulcan High Command.

Meanwhile, the Suliban are cheating.

[Hadeshorn]

There are quite a few others who should be roughly in the same area.

I'd put the Ferengi within a point or two of the Vulcans as they've been in space quite a bit longer than Earth (DS9: Little Green Men). You've also got the Sheliak and the Nausicaans, the Gorn, and the Cardassians.

Any of the races known for being traders or pirates are going to have roughly the same general technology. It's only when it comes to specifics that things get shaky, ie. the Klingons and Romulans trading warp drives for cloaking devices.

[Sarge]

Bajorans were also out there catching FTL particles with solar sails hundreds of years before DS9.

[mactavish]

So, as I asked in the original post (four months ago), where would you place the various races seen in Enterprise on a 1 to 10 scale (assuming that the Vulcans are about 10.0)?

I'm going to [arbitrarily] place humanity at... say, 7.0, and all pre-warp cultures at 0.0.

So where does that put the Andorians, Tellarites, Klingons, Romulans, and so forth?

mactavish out.

[Dan Gurden]

A bit of a tall order and seems a tad arbitary... However lets see what we have.

Tech Level.
Vulcan 10
Earth 7 (but just entering tech level 8)
Andor 9
Tellar 9
Qo'Nos 8
Romulus 10
Suliban 7 (access to 10)
Tholian 11
Bajoran 6
Denobulan 7
Ferengi 8

I imagine that Earth is rapidly increasing, and assume that they would be on the cusp of tech level 9 upon the founding of the UFP when all parties move up to share tech level 10...

But the list is off the cuff and missing an awful lot of species that I just didn't think to add!

[mactavish]

Hey, Dan. Thanks for the reply.

Do you really think that the Romulans are at a level of technological development equal to the Vulcans at this point? Granted, they have some cool stuff (i.e. cloaking devices, holographic chameleon systems, etc.), but the Vulcans have had a pretty big technological advantage [presumably thanks to their embrace of logic] for centuries.

I would have placed the Romulans at 8-9 on this [notably arbitrary] scale, putting them ahead of humanity, but more in line with the Klingons and less advanced than their Vulcan cousins.

Oh, and how about the Borg from this period? Would they exceed this scale, and - if so - by how much? Remember that they are 200+ years less advanced than those seen at the beginning of ST:TNG, but - as they've been around for at least 700 years at this point (and presumably assimilating species and their technologies the majority of that time) - still pretty much ahead of the curve.

mactavish out.

[Dan Gurden]

Do you really think that the Romulans are at a level of technological development equal to the Vulcans at this point? Granted, they have some cool stuff (i.e. cloaking devices, holographic chameleon systems, etc.), but the Vulcans have had a pretty big technological advantage [presumably thanks to their embrace of logic] for centuries.

I would have placed the Romulans at 8-9 on this [notably arbitrary] scale, putting them ahead of humanity, but more in line with the Klingons and less advanced than their Vulcan cousins.

Not forgetting the ability to plug a Psionic into a comms device on Romulus and have it control a remote starship accross interstellar distances (a starship that can emulate any other type of Starship for both visual and sensor cloaking as another type of cloaking device...)

I figure that they are of an equal level, perhaps even slightly ahead, I always felt that the Romulans were somewhat technologically superior, but restricted by their society and distrust rather than by the tech...

I would probably place the Borg as a 10 too, bordering on an 11 (dependant upon the successful link up of the 24th century collective from the Enterprise episode, which may take decades to reach at sublight comms beamed into space...)

[The Tatterdemalion King]

I would have placed the Romulans at 8-9 on this [notably arbitrary] scale, putting them ahead of humanity, but more in line with the Klingons and less advanced than their Vulcan cousins.

In ENT, the Romulans were in charge of the Vulcan government. If the Vulcans are at 10, the Romulans were at 10—or more.

Oh, and how about the Borg from this period? Would they exceed this scale, and - if so - by how much?

You could justify less advanced as TNG, equal levels of access and even more advanced: maybe they were doing better before a Species 6339-like virus wiped their collective memory, forcing them to expand more ferociously to make up for lost time.

[mactavish]

So to revisit this conversation...

If you were to rank each of the races seen in Star Trek Enterprise on a scale of 0 to 3 - that is None [0], Basic [1], Intermediate [2] or Advanced [3] - what categories would you use to determine an overall score?

That is to say, what specific areas of technology would you categorize and examine?

I assume you'd want to look at such things as FTL capabilities, whether the race has transporter technology, the state of medicine with each race, and so on, but what specifically would you look at? Would you categorize each item - warp engine design, deflector shields, transporters, artificial intelligence, etc. - individually? Would you look at general categories like FTL, Starship Offensive Capability, Medicine, and so on?

The process is relatively simple once the different categories are decided: the most advanced among the races categorized is probably Advanced in that specific area (though there can be ties or even nobody at that level, depending [like Humans being among the most advanced in the area of Genetic Engineering (Basic)]).

I'd prefer to base these arbitrary rankings on onscreen evidence, but I guess the novels or other non-canon sources could also be used if they aren't completely outlandish.

As an exercise, let's try to keep it to 10 categories or less. Here's what I propose (but please comment, refute, and so on): FTL capability, Offensive capability, Defensive capability, Energy Manipulation (i.e. tractor beam, force field, holodeck-type technologies, etc.), Matter Manipulation (i.e. transporter, replicator, etc), Medicine, Computer Science (including sensors, robotics/cybernetics, artificial intelligence, etc.), and Other (which may include [but is not necessarily limited to]: dimensional travel, time travel, genetic engineering, psionic technologies, etc.).

I know this is imprecise and arbitrary, but I've been pondering this for some time now and would like the perspectives of some other Star Trek RPG fans.

Thanks in advance.

mactavish out.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Why is genetic engineering not grouped under Medicine?

[Owen E Oulton]

Why would it be? It belongs under Life Sciences along with Biology and like subjects.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

There is no Life Sciences category in the proposed schema.

[mactavish]

That's what the post is for. What categories should be there? If you disagree, offer some suggestions. I'm not proud; you guys are collectively smarter than me.

mactavish out.

[Owen E Oulton]

Basically the same categories as used in FASA, ICON and CODA, but perhaps with some skills switched between categories. F'rinstance, FASA had a skill called Astronautics which they put in Space Sciences. It's actually a spaceframe structural skill which should put it in Engineering, and ICON and FASA both had Psychology listed as a specialisation in Medicine, but which should be all on its own